The present invention relates to a valve assembly for an apparatus under pressure, such as a vessel under gas or vapor pressure.
There are many designs of valve assemblies available to date. Through continuous optimization of the design and improvement of the manufacturing process as well as through use of latest tools, valves assemblies can be made increasingly lighter and more compact whereby their design should be limited only by standardized connection sizes, safety aspects and ergonomic configuration. Valve assemblies may frequently include a valve body fitted in a valve casing and having a manometer that is integrated in a handwheel of the valve body so as to protect the manometer against impacts and to configure the valve assembly more compact and lighter. The placement of the manometer in this fashion suffers, however, shortcomings, because the manometer rotates conjointly with the handwheel so that the display may be upside down for an observer and thus becomes more difficult to read. Not only is this disadvantageous as far as ergonomics is concerned but also compromises safety aspects as the observer may incorrectly read the display and thereby may possibly cause disastrous results.